Export-Import Bank Issues $3 Billion Foreign Currency Bonds Successfully... Largest Ever for Korean Institutional Investors

Securing Foreign Currency Funds in Advance at Low Interest Rates... Providing Competitive Financing for Export Support

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi] The Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM) announced on the early morning of the 6th that it successfully issued a total of $3 billion USD global bonds targeting investors worldwide. Excluding the government, this is the largest foreign currency bond ever issued by a Korean issuer to overseas investors.

The maturities are 3 years, 5 years, and 10 years, each issued in the amount of $1 billion USD. Notably, the 10-year maturity bond among this global bond issuance was issued in the form of a Green Bond targeting overseas investors sensitive to environmental issues such as climate change. It is the longest maturity Green Bond issued by a Korean financial institution in USD public bond issuance.

KEXIM plans to use the funds raised through the Green Bond, in accordance with the ESG bond framework completed at a global level last year, to provide long-term and stable financial support for Korean companies’ green new deal overseas expansion projects such as renewable energy.

This global bond issuance by KEXIM is the first to be issued in Korea this year. Accordingly, there are high expectations that it will serve as a benchmark providing interest rate guidance to both issuers and investors during the global interest rate hike period.

Meanwhile, with the Federal Reserve’s abrupt monetary policy shift last month expected to accelerate interest rate hikes this year, KEXIM’s proactive securing of long-term low-interest foreign currency funds will enable the provision of competitive interest rates when supporting Korean companies’ exports and overseas expansion.

A KEXIM official stated, “Despite the highly volatile market conditions, we aggressively proceeded with the issuance from the first week of the new year, aiming to capitalize on the so-called ‘January effect’ where investors actively invest early in the year as part of portfolio building.” He added, “As a result of actively appealing to global ESG investors that this is a 10-year maturity Green Bond issued to support the long-term overseas expansion of Korean companies’ green projects such as K-battery, we smoothly achieved the initial target of selling $3 billion USD.” He continued, “KEXIM plans to raise a total of $15.5 billion USD in foreign currency this year.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.